lesson 2- the city Dionysia

Question 1

when was the city Dionysia festival held?

Answer 1

In March

Question 2

What was the city dionysia?

Answer 2

a five day festival held in Athens in honour of Dionysus, the liberator

Question 3

how long did the city dionysia festival last?

Answer 3

five days

Question 4

who was the festival held in honour of?

Answer 4

Dionysus, the liberator

Question 5

what do we mean when we say dionysus was a ‘trixie god’?

Answer 5

He had the ability to break boundaries between human and divine, male and female and even young and old- there was no surprise that he was considered the god of wine and theatre as oath was a way of pushing boundaries to reality.

Question 6

why was the city dionysia festival held during late spring?

Answer 6

Dionysus was a god that encouraged new growth, so worshipping him in the spring was appropriate. Spring was also the start of the sailing season, which allowed the Athenians to show off their city and its festival to visitors from other parts of the Greek world.

Question 7

what happened earlier in the year before the festival was held?

Answer 7

An Eponymous archon would be elected from the Athenian citizens

Question 8

who was the Eponymous Archon and what was his responsibility?

Answer 8

a leading politician of Athens who was responsible for running the city dionysia. He had the responsibility of choosing playwrights and a group of men known as the ‘choregia’ who were responsible for putting on each of the plays including the sets, costumes and choruses. overall, he was responsible for organising the festival as a whole.

Question 9

when did the preparations start?

Answer 9

preparations started during the summer of the preceding year. Any tragic playwright wishing to compete presented a synopsis of four plays (three tragedies and a satyr play)- the archon’s duties were to select a choregos for each playwright

Question 10

what was the role of the Choregos?

Answer 10

the Choregos worked alongside the playwright and had the responsibility of supporting the play- he would be in charge of costumes, props, as well as creating a chorus.

Question 11

where would the choregos be drawn from?

Answer 11

the city’s wealthy elite

Question 12

what did a choregos need a lot of?

Answer 12

A choregos needed a lot of money to make success of the position- sometimes the choregos would enforce liturgies in order to pay for the plays- records tell us that in 410, choregos for tragedy spent 3,000 drachmas in 402 for comedy alone.

Question 13

what would the choregos have to pay for?

Answer 13

The choregos paid for almost everything including costumes, props, masks, special effects, the payment for the chorus and their musicians. He also had to select the members of his chorus and provide them with food, a place to rehearse and possibly even accommodation.

Question 14

what was the proagon?

Answer 14

an event which acted as a preview to the city dionysia festival

Question 15

what happened a day or two before the festival began?

Answer 15

the proagon (pre-contest) was held in the odeon, a covered concert hall next to the theatre of Dionysus. In this ceremony, plays were announced and each playwright delivered a short synopsis; he might also introduce his choregos, actors and musicians, and have an actor read a short passage to give the audience a foretaste of the play.

Question 16

what happened the evening before the festival began?

Answer 16

A wooden statue of Dionysus was brought into the city from a shrine just outside the city- this procession of bring the statue into Athens re-enacted dionysus’ arrival in Athens from a distant deme known as Eleutherae

Question 17

where was the statue escorted the evening before?

Answer 17

the statue was escorted to the theatre of dionysus, where sacrifices were made. thereafter, the statue remained in the theatre throughout the dramatic performances, a symbol of the gods presence at the festival.

Question 18

what happened on the morning of day one of the festival?

Answer 18

the grand procession, also known as the pompe took place. It started outside the city and made it’s way to the agora, then onto the temple of dionysus, where it a sacrifice of a sacred bull took place as well as many other animals

Question 19

what happened in the afternoon of the first day of the festival?

Answer 19

dithyrambic competitions took place in the theatre- the dithyramb was a singing and dancing performance in honour of Dionysus and each tribe entered choruses for this event (all Athenians citizens were one of ten tribes)

Question 20

what happened on day two of the festival?

Answer 20

In the latter part of the 5th century BC day two was the day when five comic playwrights presented their play. Before the plays began on day two, there was a grand opening ceremony in the theatre of dionysus. The priest of Dionysus sacrificed a piglet on the altar in the acting area and the city’s ten generals poured libation to the twelve olympian gods. Following this, three important presentations were made including the parade of tribute, proclamation of honour and parade of orphans.

Question 21

what did the priest of dionysus sacrifice on the altar before performances in the latter half of the 5th century BC?

Answer 21

a piglet

Question 22

what happened before the play performances on day two?

Answer 22

a grand opening ceremony in the theatre of dionysus

Question 23

what were the three important presentations made on the second day following the opening ceremony, sacrifices and libations?

Answer 23

1. parade of tribute
2. proclamation of honour
3. parade of the orphans

Question 24

what was the parade of tribute?

Answer 24

during the 5th century, when Athens controlled an empire, tribute from her allies was due during this time of year. During the parade of tribute, the money from Athen’s allies were brought into the theatre and paraded for the audience to see. This tribute from Athen’s allies would then be used to maintain the empire and fund the army.

Question 25

what was the proclamation of honours and why was this incredibly important/relevant?

Answer 25

a herald announced the names of those who had done outstanding service for the city, and awarded them a crown-this was incredibly important as Ancient Athens and it’s citizens, particularly men, were fiercely competitive, and by having your name read out a great deal of honour was at stake.

Question 26

what was the parade of orphans?

Answer 26

the boys and the youth whose father had died during war and fighting for Athens paraded into the theatre. The state would pay for their education as a mark of respect for their father’s sacrifice to Athens. Those who had turned 18 that year and reached ‘ephebic status’ would be awarded a suit of armour and declared independent citizens. When the men received their armour, they would be paraded around the theatre and then would take the ‘ephebic oath’

Question 27

what happened on days 3-5 of the festival?

Answer 27

The tragic plays would be presented- each day saw three tragedies and satyr plays of one playwright. lots were drawn to determine the order in which the set of plays were performed - the action started early in the morning and continued into the afternoon

Question 28

what would happen to determine the order in which the plays would be performed?

Answer 28

a lot would be drawn

Question 29

what happened on day 5 of the festival?

Answer 29

judging would take place- however, this was randomised to avoid bribery

Question 30

How would judging take place?

Answer 30

1. Before the festival began, the Athenian council would draw up a list of names of every Athenian in each of the 10 tribes of the City. The names from each tribe were sealed in an urn and the urns were stored on the acropolis.
2. On the morning of the plays, the ten urns were placed in the theatre and the eponymous archon drew a name from each urn. These ten citizens swore an oath of impartiality and sat as judges for the competitions
3. On the 5th day of the festival each judge wrote down his order of merit on a tablet. All ten tablets were placed in a single urn. The eponymous archon then drew out five of the ten tablets at random and the playwright with the most votes was declared the winner.

Question 31

what happened a few days after the festival had ended?

Answer 31

The Athenian assembly met in the theatre of Dionysus to review the festival. Any citizen could make a complaint if he felt that it had not been run well. If a complaint was upheld then the eponymous archon could be fined. However, if the assembly felt that the festival had been a success, it could vote to award the archon a crown in recognition of his services.

Question 32

what could the playwright receive as a reward?

Answer 32

The rewards were simple, but highly prized. For example, they could receive a bronze tripod or a crown of laurel leaves.

Question 33

how much did entry to the theatre cost?

Answer 33

it cost two obols per day- this was roughly a days wage for an unskilled worker, meaning that the poor were likely excluded from the festival in its early years.

Question 34

what happened is likely to have happened during the second half of the 5th century BC?

Answer 34

The Athenian state established the theoric fund which paid for the poorest citizens to attend the theatre if they could not afford the entrance fee- this ensured that performances were open to a wide range of people, reinforcing the democratic nature of the festivals.

Question 35

who were the seats in the front row of the dionysia reserved for?

Answer 35

important officials, 500 members of the city council, foreign and allied dignitaries, generals and other important magistrates and priests of Dionysus.

Question 36

what happened by the late fourth century?

Answer 36

the seating area in the theatre was divided by section to allow tribes to sit together

Question 37

what did the Athenian state establish towards the second half of the 5th century BC?

Answer 37

The theoric fund

Question 38

what was the ‘ephebic oath’?

Answer 38

an oath in which the young men who had turned 18 and reached ‘ephebic status’ would swear by the gods to stand wherever they were placed in the battle line and be faithful to their army and obey their leaders- they were promising to fight and die for the state like their fathers had- this again links to the idea of being a democratic citizen and what it means to benefit the state. As Aristotle reminds us, as a democratic citizen, you have the duty to fight for the state, and if you do not then you are not a democratic citizen.